It feels like it would be wrong of me to let the month of May go by without my traditional post-upfronts rundown on the TV schedule for next fall. I'm sorry for the delay this year, but as those of you who know me in real life understand, I've had a lot of issues on my plate in the last few weeks.
At any rate, here goes. I'll use the same format from previous years, giving my thoughts on each timeslot in the week.
Monday
8:00-- My stepson loves How I Met Your Mother, and after watching it last season, I've become a fan, too. So we will watch this on the hour, and at the half-hour we'll try new comedy Partners, about two formerly-single friends who try to adjust their relationship now that they've both found love.
9:00-- There's really nothing in this hour that I want to watch, as new show The Mob Doctor sounds too on-the-nose to bother watching.
10:00-- Castle! Also, we will probably record Revolution, a new drama about the aftermath of a world catastrophe in which everything that runs on power of any sort stops working. The preview we saw didn't fill any of us with great expectations, but we like to watch every new sci-fi show that comes along, so we'll give it a shot for a few weeks at least.
Tuesday
8:00-- I'll be recording Hart of Dixie, which was my favorite new show of the season. What we'll watch live is Raising Hope, which I've always loved and which has grown on my family over time, followed by new sitcom Ben and Kate, about a brother and sister who live together.
9:00-- We'll watch New Girl, which was never quite perfect last season but has kept us coming back, followed by Apt. 23, which I think is just fine and my stepson adores for some reason. I also plan on recording Emily Owens M.D., which stars one of my favorite young actresses, Mamie Gummer.
10:00-- I will check out Vegas, which is a period piece about the rise of that city in the 60's and the old-fashioned sheriff who tries to keep the peace.
Wednesday
8:00-- The Middle, followed by Suburgatory, which I liked more and more as the season went on. The men in my life also want to watch Arrow, a drama about the Green Arrow of comic book fame.
9:00-- Modern Family! Afterwards is a new comedy called The Neighbors, which had me when I read the description (unsuspecting family moves into new suburb filled with aliens) and then lost me again when I actually saw the preview, which looked excruciatingly dumb. Still, I'll give this a chance for a week or two just because of our devotion to sci-fi (as stated above).
10:00-- I want to watch Nashville, if for no other reason than that it stars Connie Britton and Hayden Panetierre, two of my favorite NBC stars of recent years.
Thursday
8:00-- This is the only hour where we have a three-car pileup. I definitely need to watch The Vampire Diaries, and the men in the house definitely need to watch The Big Bang Theory, but we are all mildly interested in Last Resort, that odd new drama about the crew of a nuclear sub who mutiny and declare themselves to be a nation-state. If we don't like that show, there won't be a conflict, but if we do, I guess I'll be watching The Vampire Diaries online.
9:00-- Glee! Also, I'd like to try out Beauty and the Beast, which is based on the CBS show of the 80's and stars Kristin Kreuk, the former Lana Lang of Smallville.
10:00-- We are all somewhat interested in Elementary, the new Sherlock Holmes show where Watson is a woman.
Friday
8:00-- Nothing.
9:00-- Fringe! Also Grimm, which I didn't expect much from last fall, but which has actually turned out to be a solid, if somewhat formulaic, hour of television.
10:00-- "There is only nothing again."
Sunday
8:00-- Once Upon a Time. This is another show that has performed solidly, and I'm interested to see what will happen now that the curse has been broken.
9:00-- Revenge. I really loved this show for the first 15 episodes, and then I feel like it drove off a cliff for the rest of the season. Still, I'm willing to give it another try. Also, The Good Wife, which will cause me to have to deal with CBS football overruns for another year.
10:00-- I'm interested in 666 Park Avenue, which has a old-fashioned vibe and stars another one of my favorite TV actors, Dave Annable.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Back to the salt mines
It took me a while after my last post to remember a non-Breyer ice cream flavor we've tried recently, but it was so unusual that now I had to make a special post just to mention it here: Turkey Hill pretzel. I've always loved the Turkey Hill lowfat chocolate pretzel flavor, but as I mentioned before, I've sworn off all the Turkey Hill light flavors because of the additives they contain. So when I saw this new limited edition flavor in the freezer case, I got all excited and assumed it would be along the same lines, just with more fat.
However, when I got it home and read the fine print on the carton, I realize how wrong I was. The chocolate pretzel flavor has a chocolate swirl in it, while this flavor has a pretzel swirl. Yes, you read that right. They actually put a solid ribbon of crushed-up pretzels in the ice cream itself. It was, in one word, salty, and even my stepson, who is something of a saltaholic, thought it was too much! It turned out that I was the only person who could stand to eat this flavor, and then only if I added a heaping teaspoon of cocoa powder to it to boost the chocolate flavor and cut the salty taste. Needless to say, we won't be buying this flavor again, and you should try it at your own risk. (However, the On Second Scoop blogger loved it, so it's possible your results may vary.)
However, when I got it home and read the fine print on the carton, I realize how wrong I was. The chocolate pretzel flavor has a chocolate swirl in it, while this flavor has a pretzel swirl. Yes, you read that right. They actually put a solid ribbon of crushed-up pretzels in the ice cream itself. It was, in one word, salty, and even my stepson, who is something of a saltaholic, thought it was too much! It turned out that I was the only person who could stand to eat this flavor, and then only if I added a heaping teaspoon of cocoa powder to it to boost the chocolate flavor and cut the salty taste. Needless to say, we won't be buying this flavor again, and you should try it at your own risk. (However, the On Second Scoop blogger loved it, so it's possible your results may vary.)
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Into the Breyer patch
If I haven't been writing about ice cream as much here, it's because I've reached a point where there doesn't seem like so much new stuff out there to discover. When I was a single girl, it always seemed like there were way more new flavors being produced than I ever had time to try. But now that there are three of us here, it seems like we go through the flavors three times as fast and now we can say that we've tried just about everything that interests us. It doesn't help that there are many brands and subbrands that I've sworn off because they contain propylene glycol: Edy's Fun Flavors, Turkey Hill Light, and Breyer's Blasts, for instance.
But in recent weeks, Breyer's ice cream has been on sale at our local Kroger. As I mentioned above, I'm avoiding all the Blasts flavors because of the propylene glycol, which leaves us with the all-natural flavors. I can tell from their website that there are a ton of these still being produced, but our local store only stocks a few of them, and what we find ourselves buying most often are plain old chocolate and vanilla. We've found the chocolate to be wonderful, and the vanilla...
Well, the vanilla is more complicated than it would seem at first glance, since Breyer's has not one, not two, but four different kinds of vanilla. We've tried two of these so far. Natural vanilla seems to be the baseline flavor, and it is a very strong, light-bodied vanilla with visible flecks of vanilla bean. I love this ice cream but can only eat it by itself, as it seems a waste to put chocolate sauce or other toppings on it. Not to fear, though. The other variety we've tried, homemade vanilla, is a much more traditional, denser type of vanilla with a less prominent vanilla taste. This kind is fine by itself but even better with chocolate sauce or served with a la mode desserts.
We are so taken with these two varieties that it's hard to find an excuse to even try the other two, French vanilla and extra-creamy vanilla. However, in the interest of journalistic integrity I may eventually be induced to do so!
But in recent weeks, Breyer's ice cream has been on sale at our local Kroger. As I mentioned above, I'm avoiding all the Blasts flavors because of the propylene glycol, which leaves us with the all-natural flavors. I can tell from their website that there are a ton of these still being produced, but our local store only stocks a few of them, and what we find ourselves buying most often are plain old chocolate and vanilla. We've found the chocolate to be wonderful, and the vanilla...
Well, the vanilla is more complicated than it would seem at first glance, since Breyer's has not one, not two, but four different kinds of vanilla. We've tried two of these so far. Natural vanilla seems to be the baseline flavor, and it is a very strong, light-bodied vanilla with visible flecks of vanilla bean. I love this ice cream but can only eat it by itself, as it seems a waste to put chocolate sauce or other toppings on it. Not to fear, though. The other variety we've tried, homemade vanilla, is a much more traditional, denser type of vanilla with a less prominent vanilla taste. This kind is fine by itself but even better with chocolate sauce or served with a la mode desserts.
We are so taken with these two varieties that it's hard to find an excuse to even try the other two, French vanilla and extra-creamy vanilla. However, in the interest of journalistic integrity I may eventually be induced to do so!
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Reader, I married him
Apologies for the late notice in posting the news here, but on April 7th my barely-remembered dreams came true and I finally married my sweetheart. I feel like an honest woman!
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